… by J. R. Practix

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Mediocre is always so busy dragging down excellence that it doesn’t have the time to lift up inferior.

Because of this, mediocre keeps sinking deeper and deeper into the sag of inferiority, desperately trying to change the rules of operation and the requirements for the rewards provided.

We have a system of entertainment and information that streams in our country, which feels the need to commemorate events by finding the heroes, the standouts and those who fared well, interview them, extol them and then, within short weeks, dig up dirt on them to prove there was really nothing exceptional about them in the first place.

Why? Because without this kind of reporting, Ma and Pa Kettle, sitting at home, start getting depressed–thinking less of themselves because they don’t measure up.

After all, the problem of going to a nude beach is that you’re fully aware that everyone is stuck with an eyeful of you.

How do we commemorate the attributes, the virtues, the kindness and the intelligence that sets the human race on fire with an explosion of knowledge and unveiling of great cures and advances?

Well, we certainly can’t do it if we spend all of our time mocking initiative and making it seem that those who portray a classy morality are really just stuck in the past.

These are the three great things we should commemorate if we expect to shine:

Empathy

Any time someone feels for someone else, it is miraculous.

Research

Stop settling for the status quo, and find a better way to accomplish things.

Humility

The only way to achieve the first two is to be humble enough to know when you’ve made a mistake so you can change it quickly and improve your cause.

May we step out of our doldrums of self-satisfaction and begin to commemorate–and therefore imitate–those who are actually doing matters better than us?

Even people who are crazy do things that honor what they think is right. That’s why right is often so wrong. Right does not need to prove that it has a universal quality–just be sensible to one person.

That’s why we have laws. We can’t have three-hundred-fifty-million interpretations of right in the United States and think that we’ll be able to function. Yet even though there are rules, regulations and guidelines, human beings still feel what they think–is right.

Then they spend their whole lives searching for clues to prove their conclusions.

The problem? It’s not difficult.

If you want to step out today and establish a case for white people being stupid, there’s enough data available on the subject to support your claim. It certainly won’t be impossible to gather clues.

If your goal is to assert that men are different from women, and women from men, you will absolutely be able to find adequate examples to undergird your proclamation. There will be clues.

So there has to be some other way to determine actual value and lasting quality other than running it through our own personal prejudices.

What might be the clue for that?

I think perhaps the greatest clue to help us understand life on Earth is that no creature gains supremacy–just opportunity.

Even though humans may be more intelligent than other creatures, these other members of the animal kingdom certainly have an edge on survival instinct. And since Earth runs on a delicate balance between survival and intelligence, then each one of us can take a clue from the cockroach.

The greatest clue in the Universe–we are welcome to participate, but not encouraged to control.

Like this:

Cliché : (n) a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.

Because I write an essay or two or more every day, I’ve learned to avoid clichés. fiancé

I can say “a penny saved is a penny burned.” That’s making fun of a cliché. But to insist that it’s “earned” makes my penning arcane. (similar to using the word “arcane.”)

Yet there are things that have been proclaimed to be clichés which have recently been abandoned by our culture, and need to be returned quickly–before we come apart at the seams.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Just because it’s been presented for centuries does not mean it has lost the gold in its rule. Simply spoken, the absence of such a cliché is the presence of Earthly mayhem.

How about another one?

“You get more flies with honey than vinegar.”

Have we begun to believe that how we react, think and speak is insignificant? Are we asking the human race that surrounds us to tolerate our mood swings under the guise that if they don’t, they are intolerant? I think there’s a power to being kind. Do you?

“To he who much is given, much is expected.”

Might seem like a cliché–especially since it’s become popular to insist that each of us pull our own load, simulating some sort of unnatural evenness. There are two reasons people don’t have money:

They are poor.

They use money poorly.

It is ludicrous to think they will rise to the occasion and suddenly become prudent with finance. These poor will be with us always and we should do for them what we can–especially if we find that we have a knack of drawing in the bucks.

Yes, there are many clichés that should not be ignored or set aside simply because of their birth date.

Like this:

I have always contended that the best way to be clever (quick to understand) is to make sure you’re slow to tout your intelligence.

I don’t know why people work so hard to establish that they are smart when being knowledgeable just plays out.

So, avoid making claims in the chill of the moment, which melt in the heat of the day.

I don’t exactly know how to be clever. I get accused of it all the time, and I’ve even had people ask me what the secret is to cleverness. The only response I can give them is, “For God’s sakes–don’t try.”

After all, there is nothing that is less clever than trying to be clever.

It’s awkward.

It’s dopey.

It’s like taking a selfie and pointing out to people how cute you are.

It usually fails miserably, especially when you have to explain your cleverness because it has overshot the comprehension of your audience.

I think clever and cleverness is like dew: get there early, make sure you’re frosty and find a nice spot to let the cool that surrounds you “dew” its stuff.

But it is essential for all people who are bright–that is, mentally acute–to also be bright–showing forth some brilliance, so that their intelligence can be noticed.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where intelligence gets awards and ignorance gets attention.

You can see that might create problems.

I’m not suggesting that ignorance receive awards, but it would be nice if those who are bright were actually… bright.

I’ve had parents explain to me that their son or daughter is “a bookworm,” and that their miracle child had read several hundred volumes. But the problem is, you see, that the kid was incapable of speaking.

The child cast no shadow–so all the knowledge was locked up in a big, black box–with no key.

On the other hand, I’ve met kids who never touched a book for fear of getting a disease from the cover. But they had personality, leadership–brightness.

If our best and brightest don’t possess the incandescence to illuminate themselves for consideration, then our world is in some serious trouble.

When you’ve been given a message to be “the light of the world,” there is a responsibility to also nurture the function to be human, kind and able to interact with your fellow-travelers.

Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) — J.R. Practix

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